Reviews by ckk527:

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APPEARANCE: A dark brown color with an light tan foam, carbonation appears strong. Good clarity, head retention is less than average.

SMELL: Coffee, Malt, and Chocolate Liquor aromas are the standouts in the nose.

TASTE: The taste is roasted and bitter, with some iced coffee elements as well. Coffee grounds, raw chocolate, char, and dark breads round out the brew firmly. Though ample bitterness exists, the hop flavor is rather muted. Coffee flavors are not as strong as other stouts brewed with it, but certainly agreeable nonetheless.

FEEL: Medium bodied, well carbonated feel with coffee lingering in the after taste.

OVERALL: Fuel Cafe delivers on the promise of an accessible coffee beer, and it works, but doesn't take it to the next level like some gourmet coffee brews. Barrel aging or adding more quality ingredients could really develop this one into something special.

My first offering from Lakefront and to be honest it likely wont be remembered,poured an ink black with a thin quick to fade mocha colored head that left no trace as it settled.Hmm something is off in the nose it has almost a sour lactic quality to it wich isnt very appealing in a stout some roastiness and mocha java qualities show thru as it warms a bit but still that sourness never really fades.Way to thin and prickley in the mouth pretty much water fizz,no depth in flavors light roastiness and earth.Ouch this is really bad and I hope to forget about it quickly this is a drain pour.

A: Almost completely black with some light getting through the edge showing garnet and good clarity. The long lasting, medium tan head is made of rocky foam.

S: My initial impression is that of coffee and cream with some chocolate and a small shot of Kahlua. It smells pretty good for a coffee beer which is promising. No hops aroma detected. A light fig fruitiness and some caramel malt aroma.

T: The taste is matches the nose with big time coffee and cream with a some chocolate and enough alcohol to give the impression of a short shot Kahlua. There is a light hops bitterness and no flavor hops. The balance is slightly to the sweet with a medium malt sweetness. The finish is off dry with a roasty bitterness and chocolate aftertaste.

M: A medium-full body with moderately-light carbonation. There is a light creaminess and a touch of alcohol warmth.

O: This is at the sweeter end of the American style but a very well done coffee stout. This one would be great with dessert or at dinner with a coffee dust steak.

The pour produces three+ fingers of frothed creme head, just like you would expect to see sitting on top of your espresso. It is almost gone in ten minutes but leaves great lacing. The beer is opaque black. The nose is chocolate, sugar, and faint hop.

The taste creeps onto the tounge and leads with a bitter, roasted, almost metallic flavor which goes to a milky sweetness followed by just a second of hop bitter, and then a chocolatey sweet finish. Though a wonderful roasted character is maintained throughout, I've had many stouts which did not refer to themselves as "coffee stout" and tasted much more like coffee. The coffee issue aside, this is one of the best damn stouts I've ever had.

The mouthfeel loses points for being rather stingy in the beginning, but a bout halfway through the pint that fizzled out to reveal something more pleasant. Quite drinkable none the less, especially for such a flavorful beer.

Pours a midnight black body with a thick, dark tan head, that eventually falls to a cap. Aromas of coffee, cream and vanilla. Mouthfeel is medium bodied with low to medium carbonation. Flavor is dominated by bitter roast coffee that gives way to a dark roasted malt character with a slightly sweet aftertaste. I've remembered this being better in the past, but this bottle may be a bit passed it's prime.

This beer was a very dark brown, almost black, color with a thick tan head. The head disappeared almost instantly. It had a strong coffee aroma, as well as some sweetness. Bitter coffee taste, with a sweet finish. Funny mouthfeel, I thought there was a real disconnect between the bitter coffee and the sweet chocolate.

Poured like a carbonated cup of coffee. Yep, it has a definite coffee aroma not overpowering but distinct, a subtle chocolate coffee taste with a coffeebean aftertaste. You get a blast of coffee aroma every time you go for a sip. Nice for what it is, not a session beer, but something nice when you want to take a break from the hops.

12 oz bottle - I just bought this, but it looks like it was bottled in March. Pours an opaque black with a very thin dark brown head that quickly fades to a thin collar.

The aroma is sweet lactic cream, grains, some sour tart fruits and a little roasted chocolate. I don't get any coffee.

The flavor is sweet cream with sour tinges and some earthy grains. As it warms there is some slight coffee in the finish. The mouthfeel is thin to medium and watery.

Overall, I'm not impressed. I've liked the coffee stouts I've had in the past and this is a very sub-par example. I get very little coffee out of this. I wonder if this bottle might be bad with the sour notes. I have had this once before and remember not being too impressed, but I don't remember it being this bad.

Holy coffee batman. This is a true coffee stout. Stay clear if you are not a coffee fan. From what I gathered from the bartender this beer has about 4 cups of coffee worth of caffeine per pint. That said the smell is of a fresh coffee roast but has hints of chocolate. The taste starts sweet with a slight carbonation bit then becomes dry with a blast of coffee. For me I gave it an average on taste as i do not like the taste coffee that much but this beer is very unique and deserves consideration for any coffee lover.

Pours a very dark brown with s decent head that fizzles away quickly. Smells of acidic coffee and dark chocolate but nothing overly expressive. Taste is of a sort of metallic coffee flavor, dark bitter chocolate, and a very slight raostiness, very little hops in the finish. Mouthfeel is medium bodied, airy, not too much carbonation. Its drinkable, just a lot better out there.

The beer pours a deep black color with a tan head. The aroma is very nice and better than expected. I get a lot of strong, bitter coffee as well as some chocolate and roasted malt. Overall, this smells like a very nice coffee beer.

The flavor is not as nice as the aroma, but there are not any huge faults with it. I get a good amount of coffee and roasted malt, but I also get some cherries and chocolate. There is quite a bit of bitterness from the heavily roasted malt. The more I drink the beer, the more it starts to gain a cough syrup quality.

Fuel Café opens to a medium-strength nose of nuanced and varied aromas. The notes are split between sugars and dark, acidic coffees, with a noticeable advantage given to the sugars. These sweet notes bring black cherry, berry, prune, date, and fig fruit esters, as well as brown sugar, honey, touches of molasses and vanilla, and an almost candi sugar-like sweetness around the rim, which plays well off of the darker sugars. These sweet notes as a whole bounce off of the black coffee, ash, tobacco, and chocolate malt aromas, which sometimes struggle to be noticed. There are also thick, dark breads and toast crust adding countering factors to the sugars. As a whole, the nose is quite good, and surprisingly aromatic for a beverage of such low ABV. Even better, while the coffee notes are certainly present, they don’t overwhelm the nose, evidencing a good balance.

On the tongue, the beer opens far darker and blacker that the nose let on, with a huge rush of black coffee, coffee grounds, ash, tobacco, and chocolate and black malts washing over the tongue. Here the coffee is extremely noticeable, almost swallowing the other flavors at times. Even the heady sugars hinted at in the nose take a backseat to coffee, the fruit esters muddled into a darkly sweet fruity wash, and the brown sugar, molasses, honey, and vanilla having an equally hard time distinguishing themselves. In subsequent sips the sugars disappear further, as do many of the basic beer flavors, until strong, but somehow strangely watery coffee seems to overtake everything else. The aftertaste is a quickly fading coffee and ash remnant. Mouthfeel is medium-light, and carbonation is medium.

Overall, while there was much in the nose that was excellent, the flavors were much weaker on the tongue, and were largely washed out by coffee. The watery mouthfeel does not help here, giving the impression of someone trying to disguise a weak porter with a bevy of coffee grounds. And even the coffee grounds aren’t terribly flavorful, equivalent to perhaps pre-ground Folgers, as opposed to fresh-ground Peet’s. Better ingredients, and a better recipe, including several more pounds of good malt, would have done much to make this beer more rounded and flavorful.

Dark brown in color with a fairly limited amount of light breaching this beverage. The khaki colored head quickly dissipates to the point that it only just covers the majority of the top. Aroma is faint but is a blend of roasted barley and coffee. The flavor is predominantly bitter dark roasted coffee and yet the back of the palate is a bit on the sweet end with plum like notes. The mouth is a bit oily and viscous.